DHS: No ICE Agents at Polling Places   02/26 06:07

   

   DENVER (AP) -- A Department of Homeland Security official on Wednesday told 
state election administrators that immigration agents will not be stationed at 
the polls during November's midterm elections, trying to swat down one of 
Democrats' greatest fears about possible election interference from the Trump 
administration.

   Heather Honey, who serves as deputy assistant secretary for election 
integrity, told the group of secretaries of state that "any suggestion that ICE 
will be present at any polling location is simply not true," according to a 
statement from Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat.

   A spokeswoman for Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read also said Honey made 
the pledge, and Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, posted 
on the social media site X that the promise came from "DHS."

   The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

   Honey, an election conspiracy theorist who has backed false claims that 
President Donald Trump did not lose the 2020 election, was on the call along 
with representatives of the FBI, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Postal 
Service and other federal agencies to talk about coordination for the midterms.

   Such a call normally would be routine, but this year several moves by the 
Trump administration have unnerved Democratic secretaries of state.

   His Department of Justice has been filing lawsuits to get detailed voter 
data, without explaining why it wants the information. Trump also has been 
renewing his false claims that widespread fraud marred the 2020 election and 
has urged his administration to investigate.

   Relying on long-debunked election conspiracy theories, the FBI earlier this 
month raided an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, a Democratic 
stronghold that includes Atlanta, to seize ballots and other voting records 
from 2020.

   Democratic officials and public interest lawyers around the country have 
been strategizing for months about how to react to possible Trump meddling in 
the midterms voting and ballot counting.

   Honey's presence on the call was a reminder of the new environment for 
election officials. The U.S. Constitution provides that states, not the federal 
government, run elections. Most states vest that power in the elected office of 
the secretary of state.

   Participants on the call said Democratic secretaries of state asked Honey 
several questions about Trump administration cuts to election security funding, 
its campaign to root out noncitizen voting -- something that is already illegal 
and rarely occurs -- as well as fears about federal law enforcement officers 
appearing at polling places in the fall.

   The White House has scoffed at those fears before, noting there was no 
disruption during last year's election, when Democrats performed well. During a 
congressional hearing earlier this month, the heads of the U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection both answered "No, sir" 
when asked if they are involved in any efforts to guard voting precincts.

   Democrats note that Trump was willing to try to overturn his 2020 loss, 
pardoned those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on his behalf and 
has stocked his administration with people who helped him try to overturn the 
results in 2020.